Playing a Short Stack

One of the most stressful times for some players at the table is when they are short stacked. The clear reason behind this is because they are in danger of being eliminated from the tournament. As most players with experience know, the fact that you are short stacked does not mean that all is lost. However, in order to give yourself a fighting chance, you do need to have some type of a strategy to play a short stack. Let’s take a look at some strategies regarding a short stack.

First, what is your current situation at the table? Where are the blinds at? Are there ante’s? Are you playing Limit Holdem as opposed to No Limit Holdem? All of these are immediate questions you will have to quickly address. First, what are the blinds. Are the blinds relatively high or are they still somewhat low compared to your stack. For example, if you are in a tournament that starts with 1,500 chips and you have 500 left at the 25 and 50 blind level, then you can still wait up to two orbits before going into desperation mode. If you have 500 chips left and the blinds are 200 and 400, then that changes your strategy. Also, are there antes? If there are, you need to calculate that into your price per round. This will give you a realistic idea of how long you can wait for a legitimate hand. Also, are you playing Limit Holdem as opposed to No Limit? If you are playing Limit Holdem, you need to keep in mind that you want a stronger hand when you start to commit your short stack as you can only raise by one bet. Many players will take shots at short stacks in this situation.

What should you do if you are short stacked and the blind are small compared to your stack? The simple answer is to either wait for solid hands, or for good situations. Solid hands are simple enough to figure out, but a good situation sometimes is not. A good situation would be you in the small blind against a tight player, or a hand where the only other player left is one with a medium to medium-low stack. In these types of situations you can make a move to try and pick up the blinds or blind and antes. Another good situation is if you have a tight image. Sometimes you can make raises in spots that will make people lay down since they figure you’re raising with a monster. Granted, a really big stack may call you down anyway to try and bust you. A situation I was in for a tournament a while back involved my calling the last of my chips with 7-2 offsuit. What had occurred was that 4 people had limped into a pot preflop. I was getting 5.5 to 1 on my money to try and catch lucky. It turned out to be 6 to 1 when the small blind limped in as well. Unfortunately, my gamble did not pay off, but the odds were fantastic for my call.

Try and avoid letting your stack get to such a state where you will be called automatically. Sometimes this is unavoidable, but especially in No Limit, try and have enough chips to give you a chance to force people out the hand. Limit Holdem is a little different. You want to try and give yourself a solid chance to win the pot. Sometimes your cards are so bad that you must let yourself dwindle down to pick up a fighting hand.

There is logic that states that you must push with certain stack sizes. While there is merit to this, be careful of just pushing out of frustration or “because the book says so.” Try and pick a spot to put your money in. At the 2008 WSOP, Erik Seidel put on a clinic during a tournament regarding short stack play. He let his stack dwindle many times to points where people thought he was insane. However, each time, when he put his money in, he put it in with a solid hand. He wound up doubling up and surviving several spots just by playing a good short stack strategy. It ended up netting him over 60,000 in additional prize money.

Another time, I watched Mickey “Mouse” Mills take a short stack with 60 players left and make the money in an event that only paid 27. He was able to stick around and pick his spots before finally finishing in 14th place.

Personally, I have survived deeper in many tournaments by playing a strong short stack strategy. In a recent event in Las Vegas, I was the short stack with 21 players left in an event that paid 9. One guy kept shaking his head as I dwindled down. I finally picked up a strong hand and was able to triple up. From there I was able to build my stack. He eventually told me, “Well, I guess that patience paid off.”

If you play a solid short stack strategy, you will find that it will pay off for you as well. Good luck to you at the table.

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